The Masquerade Ball
by JailyForever
Summary: When James finds out Lily's father has arranged for her to marry another, he sneaks into the engagement party with disastrous consequences. Warning: Character Death. (Word Count taken from google docs)


**Team:** Montrose Magpies

 **Position:** Beater 2

 **Task:** Write an unhappy ending for your OTP

 **Prompts:** (Word) Control, (Word) Radiant, (Word) Masquerade

 **Subject:** Music History

 **Task:** Option 1 - Madam Butterfly

 **Word Count:** 3000

* * *

The Masquerade Ball

James swept the floor of the stable, tidying up the hay that littered the floor. He sighed to himself as he thought about a better life for himself, of running away and making his fortune, but he knew it was only a pipe dream. There was no way that he could ever stand being away from his girl, Lily, for more than a day.

The stable door creaked open and James turned around to see who it was, hoping it wasn't his boss, Alastor Moody, for whom nothing was ever good enough. His face cracked into a smile when he noticed the redhead standing there talking animatedly to her friend, Marlene McKinnon, who looked disapprovingly at him. When she noticed that he was watching, she sneered at him before Lily entered and closed the door behind her.

"James," she whispered, hurrying over and throwing herself into his arms. "I don't have long, but I had to see you before I left."

"What? Where are you going?" James asked. "How long will you be gone?"

Lily cast her eyes to the ground.

"I shall be gone for a week, and when I return the—the man my father has decided I must marry will return with me. There is to be a grand Masquerade Ball to announce and celebrate the engagement."

"What does this mean for us?" James asked, pulling her closer as she tried to move away.

"It means we can no longer be together," Lily answered, sadly. "My father will never allow me to be with a _'filthy peasant'_ ,as he likes to put it. Who knows what father would do to you if he discovered us together? It's best that we end things now, before it's too late."

"But, I love you," James said sadly, taking hold of her hands.

"I—"

"Lily," Marlene called, opening the door slightly. "Your father is looking for you."

"Coming," Lily answered her, before looking him directly in the eye. "Goodbye, James."

She backed away from him slowly, releasing his hands from hers. James' eyes brimmed with tears as he watched her walk away from him, possibly forever.

For the longest time afterwards, James stared at the door, his work forgotten as he imagined a life where Lily was with another man.

That was something he could not allow to happen. He had to do whatever it took to make her his, permanently. And he would start with the Masquerade Ball and check out his 'competition'.

As the week progressed, James heard chatter amongst those in court about _his_ Lily's intended. Apparently, he was the only son of a Grand Duke and was almost twice as rich as the Evans family. According to a giggling Marlene, who had seen the portrait sent by his father, he was "as handsome as he is rich." All the talk about him made James feel sick to the stomach and he found himself worrying that Lily would fall for this man.

When the day of the ball arrived, James still hadn't figured out how he would get inside. He found that he was getting desperate.

Lily had returned earlier that day and according to the villagers who had been present as they passed through town, the rumours about this Duke-In-Waiting were completely true.

He knew that there was only one route left to him, and it was the one that he had been most eager to avoid.

~o~o~o~

"Sirius, please do this one thing for me," James begged. "I'm not asking much of you."

"Why?" Sirius questioned, raising an eyebrow. "She's only a girl. There are plenty out there who are just as beautiful as she is. Why did you have to go and choose the daughter of one of the most powerful Lords in the land?"

"Because I love her, Sirius, that's why," James answered. "Please, just get me into the ball and I will do the rest. No one need ever know that you were the one who aided me."

"Okay, but you owe me," Sirius answered after a moment's thought. "Meet me at the foot of the garden at seven this evening. I will bring you a suit from Lord Evans' wardrobe; he has this habit of not throwing out suits, even if they're too small. You'll have to sort out your own mask though. Mr Ollivander is well known for his remarkable craftsmanship and the prices are very reasonable; I heard that one time he even allowed someone to pay in instalments."

"That's excellent, Sirius," James cried, grabbing his face and kissing him on the cheek. "You won't regret this."

"I'd better not," Sirius answered. "And _never_ kiss me like that again. People might get the wrong idea, and you know it'll cost us both of our heads."

"I won't, Sirius," James said, before rushing off down the street to acquire a mask for the ball.

~o~o~o~

As soon as James had visited Mr Ollivander's shop he made his way towards a secluded freshwater lake that was his and Lily's little secret.

He stripped off his clothes and washed them in the lake before folding them and placing them on the embankment to dry, before climbing into the lake to bathe. After all, he couldn't very well turn up to a ball smelling of horses and manure. He would be kicked out before he got anywhere near his love.

James sank under the water, allowing it to flow over his head for a few seconds before bobbing back up. He reached out and grabbed the very expensive soap he had splashed out on in town earlier and began to clean himself, making sure to reach every single spot, and scrubbing extra hard on his underarms and face.

He then raised the bar of soap to his head and began to scrub his hair vigorously, ensuring that he covered every inch. If he had his way, he would have the best hair there—even better than Mr 'As-Handsome-As-He-Is-Rich' with the great hair.

~o~o~o~

That evening after meeting with Sirius, James walked through the vast garden towards the back door entrance Sirius had told him about. Every fibre of his being tingled at the thought of seeing Lily again; a week had been too long to go without seeing her—especially when her father was formally going to announce her engagement to some undeserving man.

After a few minutes of searching, he found the door that was covered by a long midnight blue curtain. As he expected, the door was unlocked thanks to Sirius, and James slipped inside.

When he drew back the curtain by a fraction he noticed that he was in an empty office, which he assumed belonged to Lord Evans. James slipped out from behind the curtain and crossed the large room. He paused by the door and glanced in the mirror that hung on the wall next to the door. He readjusted his mask and ruffled his hair so that it was styled in that windswept way that Lily found adorable.

"Perfect," he whispered to himself. "Now, go and get your girl, handsome."

James peeped through a crack in the door to check if anyone was outside in the corridor before opening the door and confidently walking towards the grand ballroom where his one true love was.

As James reached the double doors to the ballroom, two of Lord Evans' manservants pulled them open.

"Have a good evening, sir," one of the men said as he passed through the doors.

James turned towards the man who had spoken and nodded his head in acknowledgement, before continuing on into the ballroom and emerging at the top of a golden staircase.

His eyes sought out Lily's angelic face and flaming red hair as he walked down the staircase, finding her almost immediately. She was stood with her mother and father talking to one of the visiting Barons and a smile crept onto James' face; however it soon disappeared when he noticed the man next to her, who had his arm around her waist in a possessive manner.

James' eyes raked up and down the man as he took in his 'competition' and he quickly concluded that Marlene McKinnon needed to have her eyes tested. The only way he could be 'as handsome as he is rich' was if he was a peasant, and even that was being too generous towards the stranger. He was nothing more than a greasy haired mongrel.

His hands balled into fists as he watched the degenerate reach over and tuck a strand of Lily's hair behind her ear, and kiss her on the cheek.

James' attention shifted to Lily as he noticed how she cringed away from his touch slightly. She looked absolutely radiant in her floor length, pale red dress, and as always her hair and make-up were absolutely flawless. The only thing wrong with the picture, aside from the man who kept pawing her, was that her eyes were screaming that she would rather be anywhere else but there, and her smile wasn't convincing anyone that she was happy.

"You," a voice hissed as he reached the bottom of the stairs.

James turned to look in the direction the voice had come from and was less than impressed to see the annoyed face of Marlene McKinnon.

Putting on his best posh voice James said, "I'm sorry, what do you mean?"

"You may have some fooled, James, but not me," she answered. "You shouldn't be here. You have to leave now."

"I'm sorry, but I do not know who this James is, but I can assure you, Miss, that I am not him," James replied. "Now, if you will excuse me, I believe the waltz is about to begin and I would very much like to find a partner."

Without waiting for Marlene to respond, James crossed the dance floor and selected one of the ladies sat down to dance with to pass the time until Lily was away from her 'betrothed', hoping that it would be sooner rather than later.

As he danced his eyes never wavered from where Lily was positioned, and Marlene's eyes, he noticed, remained completely fixated on him. It took every ounce of strength he had to control himself every time the greasy haired mongrel touched Lily.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Lily was alone and away from the man with many hands and her father. And for the first time, Marlene was nowhere within sight, or so he hoped. It was time to make his move.

"Would you excuse me for a moment?" he whispered in his partner's ear.

"Yes, sure," she answered, smiling at him flirtatiously, and James thought that if he wasn't already head over heels for Lily, he would find her quite appealing to the eye. "Hurry back."

James nodded his head and swiftly made his way across the dance floor, hoping to reach Lily before her father and her betrothed returned, or Marlene made an appearance in an attempt to sabotage him.

"Lily," he said when he was stood in front of her. "May I have this dance?"

"James, what are you doing here?" she asked softly. "How did you get in? If my father catches—"

"Shh," he whispered, placing his finger on her lips and then quickly retracting it. "There will be plenty of time for questions, but for now, we dance."

James bowed to her and took her delicate hand in his own. He straightened up and twirled her around before taking her into his arms.

"I missed you whilst you were gone," he muttered in her ear, sniffing her hair.

"I missed you too, so much, James," she answered. "I—I wish things were different."

"As do I," James sighed as they continued to dance. "And they can be. Is there somewhere we could talk? In private."

"Sure, my father's office should be free," Lily told him. "I'm sure you know the way there, since that is the only way you I can think of that you could've gotten in undetected."

"You know me so well," James answered with a smirk.

"Head there now and I'll follow in a minute or two, so as not to raise any suspicions."

James nodded his head in agreement, hoping that she would be able to get away from the ballroom easily enough, especially since the ball was being held in honour of her engagement to Lord Ugly.

~o~o~o~

James arrived at the office and made himself comfortable in Lord Evans' chair whilst he waited for Lily, and fortunately he wasn't waiting very long.

As soon as Lily walked through the door, James began to pour his heart and soul out to her.

"Lily, please don't marry him," he begged. "I love you, more than anything in this world. I think a huge part of me would die if you became his wife. You and I belong together. You know that and I know that."

James reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small box and got down on one knee.

"I know it's not much. I know that I could never hope to give you fine things, but I would give you my heart and love you until we're old and grey. Marry me, Lily?"

James held his breath and waited for an answer.

"My father would never allow it," Lily answered with tears in her eyes. "He is set on me marrying Severus."

"Then run away with me, Lily," he suggested. "I have a small amount of savings from my job. It should be enough to tide us over until I can find another job to support us. What do you say?"

Lily bit her bottom lip. "I—I say yes," she breathed.

"Really?" James asked, standing up, drawing her into his arms and kissing her fiercely on the lips, pouring every ounce of emotion he had into it.

"Unfortunately," a voice drawled, "that can never happen."

James and Lily broke apart and turned their attention to the doorway where two men stood. And they were the last two people that James wanted to see, just as he and Lily were about to embark on their happily ever after.

"Father," Lily gasped. "Severus."

"Step away from my daughter, peasant," Lord Evans said in an unnervingly even voice. "Severus, would you be so kind as to get the guards. I believe they will have a prisoner for the evening."

"Absolutely," Severus answered with a smirk, turning on his heel and exiting the room.

Once he was out of earshot, Lord Evans turned to James. "I knew my daughter was hiding something, that she was seeing someone. I had hoped that she would have at least chosen someone of a higher—standing."

"My Lord," James started, "I love Lily very much."

"Love," Lord Evans barked. "You are both too young to know what love is and even if you did: in this day and age love doesn't matter."

"Lord Evans," Severus said, re-entering the room. "I have the guards, as you requested."

"Excellent, take this man down to the dungeons, quietly," Lord Evans ordered. "After all, we have guests and we do not want to ruin their evening."

The two guards entered the room and roughly grabbed James by the arms.

"I love you," James cried as they dragged him from the room.

~o~o~o~

The next morning, James shivered in the dungeons as he watched the sunrise . His arms ached from being chained up, but he didn't care. All he cared about was Lily and what had happened to her after he had been taken from her side.

Had her father chastised her? Confined her to her rooms until her wedding day? Or done something worse?

Not knowing what had befallen her worried James immensely, and the thoughts and visions of terrible things ran around in his mind, until finally one of the guards arrived at his jail cell.

"Do not make any sudden movements," he ordered as he inserted a key into the door.

"How's Lily? Is she okay?" he asked as the guard made his way over to him.

"That is none of your concern," the guard answered, unchaining him. "You should be more worried about what is going to happen to you."

"What—what is going to happen to me? Where are you taking me?"

The guard didn't answer him and simply led him through dungeons and up a flight of steps in complete silence until they emerged on a platform—a platform where a block rested on the floor and _the mongrel_ wielding an axe stood next to it.

His eyes darted towards the stands and he saw Lily being held by two men, with a scared and concerned look on her face.

A rough hand shoved him down to his knees.

"James Potter," a loud voice rang out. "You have been charged and at the trial this morning have been found guilty of treason and attempting to seduce a betrothed woman, and in so doing violating a marriage contract. You have been sentenced to death. Do you have any last words?"

"Lily, I love you," he called out, before placing it on the block in front of him. He couldn't believe they had held a trial without him and he hadn't been given a chance to defend himself.

His eyes never left Lily as he felt the heavy footsteps of his executioner approaching.

"I'm going to enjoy this," Severus muttered.

Lily looked at her father as Severus raised the axe. "Please don't do this," she begged.

A hand roughly grabbed her hair and jerked her head back towards the stands just as the axe was lowered, severing James' head with a loud _'thwack'_.

"James," she cried, tears falling thick and fast down her face.

"Ladies, take my daughter to her room," her father ordered, ignoring his daughter's cries. "She has a wedding to prepare for."

"Yes my Lord," they both answered, curtseying before taking her by the hands and leading her to her bedroom where her wedding dress was waiting for her.


End file.
